UCC1 ad rejection - debtor name formatting issue
Filed a UCC1 ad (amendment) last week to add additional collateral to an existing filing and it got rejected by the SOS office. The rejection notice says 'debtor name does not match original filing' but I triple-checked and the name looks identical to me. Original UCC1 was for 'ABC Manufacturing LLC' and my amendment uses the exact same spelling. Has anyone run into this before? The collateral addition is time-sensitive for our equipment financing deal and I'm worried about missing our window. What could be causing this mismatch?
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Aaron Boston
This happens more often than you'd think. Even though the names look identical visually, there might be hidden formatting differences. Check for extra spaces, different punctuation marks, or character encoding issues. Sometimes copying from PDFs introduces invisible characters that cause exact-match failures in the SOS system.
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Sophia Carter
•Exactly this! I had a rejection last month because there was a non-breaking space character instead of a regular space. Looked identical on screen but the system caught it.
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Chloe Zhang
•How do you even check for invisible characters? This sounds like a nightmare to troubleshoot.
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Brandon Parker
Had this exact same issue with an equipment loan amendment. Turns out the original UCC1 had 'LLC' and my amendment had 'L.L.C.' with periods. The SOS system requires character-for-character matching. Pull up the original filing search results and compare letter by letter, including all punctuation and spacing.
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Sofia Peña
•Just checked and you're right - the original has 'LLC' but I used 'L.L.C.' in the amendment. That's probably it! Going to refile immediately.
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Adriana Cohn
•This is why I always copy-paste debtor names directly from the original filing when doing amendments. Saves so much headache.
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Jace Caspullo
•Wait, but shouldn't the SOS system be smart enough to recognize those as the same entity? This seems like a stupid technicality.
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Melody Miles
I've been dealing with UCC filings for 15 years and debtor name matching is the #1 cause of rejections. The system is extremely literal. Also check if there are any special characters like ampersands (&) vs 'and', commas in different places, or abbreviated vs full state names in addresses.
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Nathaniel Mikhaylov
•This is so frustrating. Why can't they build some fuzzy matching logic into these systems?
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Melody Miles
•Legal reasons mostly. The exact name matching protects against fraudulent filings and ensures the lien attaches to the correct legal entity.
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Eva St. Cyr
•Makes sense from a legal standpoint but it's a pain operationally.
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Kristian Bishop
I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool after getting burned by name mismatches like this. You can upload your original UCC1 and the amendment PDF and it instantly highlights any inconsistencies between debtor names, addresses, and other critical fields. Would have caught your LLC vs L.L.C. issue immediately.
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Kaitlyn Otto
•Never heard of that service. How does it work exactly?
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Kristian Bishop
•You just upload both documents and it does an automated cross-check. Shows you exactly where the discrepancies are so you can fix them before filing. Saved me from three rejections last quarter alone.
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Axel Far
•That sounds incredibly useful for complex amendments. Bookmarking this.
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Jasmine Hernandez
Another thing to watch for is if the original filing has any typos that you 'corrected' in your amendment. You have to match the original exactly, even if it has mistakes. I once had to file an amendment with a deliberate misspelling because that's how the original was filed.
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Luis Johnson
•That's ridiculous but makes sense. The system can't know if you're fixing a typo or changing to a different entity entirely.
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Ellie Kim
•Yep, had this happen with a client whose name was misspelled on the original UCC1. We had to maintain the error in all subsequent filings until we did a full termination and new filing.
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Fiona Sand
How long does it typically take to get a response on a refiled amendment? My client is breathing down my neck about this timeline.
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Mohammad Khaled
•Depends on your state but usually 24-48 hours for electronic filings. Some states are faster.
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Alina Rosenthal
•In my experience, if you file early in the week it's faster than Friday afternoon filings.
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Sofia Peña
•Thanks everyone. Going to refile with the exact LLC formatting from the original. Fingers crossed this resolves it.
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Finnegan Gunn
Pro tip: always keep a text file with the exact debtor names from all your active UCC filings. Copy-paste from there for any amendments or continuations. Eliminates the guesswork entirely.
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Miguel Harvey
•That's brilliant. Going to start doing this immediately.
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Ashley Simian
•I do something similar but in a spreadsheet with filing numbers, debtor names, and expiration dates all in one place.
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Oliver Cheng
UPDATE: Refiled with the correct LLC formatting and it was accepted! Thanks for all the help. Definitely learned my lesson about exact character matching.
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Taylor To
•Glad it worked out! This thread will probably help a lot of other people with the same issue.
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Ella Cofer
•Great resolution. These name matching issues are so common but easily preventable once you know what to look for.
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Kevin Bell
For anyone finding this thread later - also double-check that you're using the correct UCC1 filing number in your amendment. I've seen rejections for that too when people transpose digits.
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Savannah Glover
•Good point. Always verify the filing number against your original documentation.
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Felix Grigori
•The Certana tool mentioned earlier would probably catch filing number mismatches too. Seems like a comprehensive solution for document consistency.
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Felicity Bud
This whole thread highlights why UCC work requires such attention to detail. One small formatting difference can derail an entire transaction timeline.
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Max Reyes
•Absolutely. The devil is always in the details with secured transactions.
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Mikayla Davison
•Makes you appreciate having good systems and processes in place to catch these issues early.
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